Today’s blog post image and some of the text courtesy of Sketchplanations,
one of several sources of inspiration for describing complex issues visually.
VUCA is an analytical framework originally developed by the US Army War College to help military leaders understand the dynamics present in the context of war and adapt their leadership to them.
The dynamics are: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity.
What do those words mean?
- Volatility: subject to rapid change (potentially for the worse)
- Uncertainty: difficult to predict what will happen
- Complexity: many interrelated dynamics (making full understanding difficult)
- Ambiguity: inexact (no single “right” answer)
Sound familiar?
That’s because VUCA also describes the increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment in which congregations and judicatories find themselves today. That environment is not going to change anytime soon, if at all. If anything, it is become increasingly VUCA every day.
What are faith leaders to do?
The VUCA framework is a reminder to consider how to lead and adapt to the challenges of living in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.
In his book Leaders Make the Future, futurist Bob Johansen suggests countermeasures to each aspect of VUCA that faith leaders can employ to lead more effectively in our increasingly VUCA world. Conveniently, they also can be easily remembered with the same VUCA acronym:
| VUCA Dynamic | VUCA Countermeasure |
|---|---|
| Volatility | Vision |
| Uncertainty | Understanding |
| Complexity | Clarity |
| Ambiguity | Agility |
Do these countermeasures sound familiar?
That’s because they correspond to the Missional Assessment and Strategy Development approach that FaithX employs in our work with congregations and judicatories
Vision
- Discern your congregation’s (or judicatory’s) reason for being.
- Make it short and memorable so every member “gets” it.
Understanding
- Discern your congregation’s vitality and sustainability strengths and weaknesses.
- Discern your neighborhoods’ missional opportunities and challenges.
Clarity
- Identify which specific strengths can be leveraged to engage the opportunities.
- Identify specific ways to apply that leverage in ministries and programs.
Agility
- Develop 90-day microstrategies that move you in the right direction.
- Learn what worked and didn’t; adapt your next 90-day microstrategy accordingly.
FaithX can guide you through the Missional Assessment and Strategy Development process.
We also can provide state-of-the-art tools to aid your congregation or judicatory in the process, including:
- Congregational Vitality Assessment (CVA) to diagnose a congregation’s own vitality and sustainability.
- CVA Judicatory Platform (CVA–JP) that judicatories can use to administer the CVA directly to their member congregations and monitor improvement over time.
- Judicatory Vitality Assessment (JVA) to help judicatories diagnose their own vitality and sustainability strengths and weaknesses (coming early 2024).
- Neighborhood Insights Report (NIR) to help congregations identify opportunities and challenges in the neighborhoods they serve.
- MapDash for Faith Communities (MapDash) to help congregations and judicatories dig deeper into relevant demographics and trends in the communities they serve.
So while it’s definitely a challenge to do ministry in an increasingly VUCA world, there are ways that faith leaders can help their congregations and judicatories handle it.
And we are ready to help when you need it.
For more information, contact us at info@faithx.net.
